Learning from

Lewis and Clark

Nearly 200 years ago, President Thomas Jefferson instructed two intrepid explorers to "learn all you can" as they set off on an 8,000-mile journey through uncharted territory. Today, educational explorers inspired by those words are bringing the adventures of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark into the classroom.

The Summer 2003 issue of NW Education—"Discoveries of Learning: Lessons From Lewis and Clark"—documents some of the ways Northwest teachers and students are taking the opportunity of the expedition’s bicentennial to rediscover our nation’s early history. Through historical inquiry they’re learning about the events of the journey and its consequences for Native people, the environment, and westward expansion of the new nation.

They’re also using the expedition as a platform for hands-on lessons that cut across disciplines. From mapmaking with global positioning system (GPS) receivers to tending a garden of native plants, learning survival skills, and keeping detailed journals of field observations, students discover that classwork can be as exciting and daunting as a television reality show.

"To me, you can take just any part of the story and make it leap back into the curriculum," says

Larry McClure, education liaison for the National Council of the Lewis & Clark Bicentennial. In the magazine, McClure writes about project-based learning as a strategy for raising academic achievement. In one case, students had to navigate the Columbia River in log canoes they crafted themselves as part of their final exam. Another class, largely made up of Latino and Russian youth, did archaeological research at nearby sites, prepared children’s books on the Corps of Discovery, and read them to elementary school students.

In addition to sharing these innovative ideas from the field, "Discoveries of Learning" offers a list of rich Web sites, books, and other resources so educators can craft their own curriculum. This issue of NW Education can be accessed online at www.nwrel.org/nwedu/08-04/.